This was published 1 year ago
Walking paths, hotel, housing in mix for $1.2b Woolloongabba facelift
By Tony Moore
Brisbane residents have been given a fresh suggestion for the rejuvenation of Woolloongabba in time for the Olympic Games, with walking paths, renewed sports facilities and a mix of high-end and social housing.
Trenert, the developer behind the proposed $1.2 billion Station Square complex in Stanley Street, aims to have its five-tower project – including a new 320-suite luxury hotel and a restored Chalk Hotel – finished by 2032.
“Ideally, I need the hotel finished 18 months before [the Olympics] for training, taking bookings and things like that,” Trenert managing director Peter Priest said on Wednesday.
“That will be the last piece of the puzzle.”
No plans have been lodged with Brisbane City Council or the Queensland government, but Priest said the company wanted to “move forward as quickly as we can”.
The 1.3-hectare Woolloongabba site is a rectangle fronting Stanley Street, between Reid Street – with the old Chalk Hotel on the corner – and Hubert Street closer to the Gabba Cricket Ground.
“It’s a mix of a hotel, two commercial towers and two residential towers,” Priest said.
“And then quite a large retail podium area.”
The heritage-listed bank on Stanley Street, now the Mix Bar, is not part of the development and will remain.
Station Square will push back from Stanley Street towards Mater Hill, where there will be two commercial towers; a 16-storey tower which will contain 114 lower-rent units (80 per cent “affordable” and 20 per cent at social housing rates); and a “market-rent” residential tower.
A joint venture agreement had been signed with BlueCHP to provide the affordable housing, and two firms had been listed as potential luxury hotel operators, Priest said.
He said Trenert wanted to build a pedestrian footbridge over Stanley Street to connect with the Cross River Rail station.
“You can see how busy Stanley Street is. I think a bridge would be ideal and very much needed,” Priest said.
Trenert plans to build the development podium first, which includes five levels of underground parking with 670 car parks.
“Then, we will work from the front of the site backwards,” Priest said.
Planning Minister Steven Miles said he could not personally back a pedestrian bridge across Stanley Street before a development application was lodged. However, he said the site was integral to plans to increase walking links to the new train and bus stations.
“It is exactly the kind of project that we want to support in this area,” Miles said.
“It is why we have declared a priority development area over it, and it is what we expect this precinct to look like in just a decade’s time.”
Brisbane City Council was asked for comment on the proposal.